For a number of years, side-by-side refrigerator-freezers have had a vertically extending partition dividing the cabinet into a full-height freezer compartment and a full-height fresh food compartment. The limited widths or horizontal dimensions of the compartments are a disadvantage in side-by-side refrigerator-freezers that are small enough to fit in the usual refrigerator nooks or spaces available in most kitchens. Regardless of the horizontal positioning of the vertical partition, the widths of the two compartments may be insufficient to store large frozen items such as frozen turkeys or relatively wide items such as food platters or trays. This is particularly a source of irritation for users accustomed to the full-width storage areas of refrigerators in which the freezer and fresh food compartments are one above the other.
This problem was solved in U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,578-Armstrong by providing the partition with a movable partition portion and a unique magnetic gasket assembly for sealing the refrigerator-freezer.
Although the system of U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,578-Armstrong, which is hereby incorporated by reference, functioned satisfactorily, it was decided that the sealing and insulating properties of the gasket assembly could be improved.
The improvement is directed toward the insulating properties adjacent the inner surface of the door and the sealing and insulating properties in the area of the magnets.
It was discovered that if a second longitudinally extending chamber was added to each gasket element and maintained in contact with the inner surface of the associated door, the sealing and insulating properties of the gasket would be improved.
It was further discovered that if a flange was connected to each first longitudinally extending chamber and extended outwardly toward the other flange element and behind the respective magnet element, the sealing and insulating properties of the gasket assembly in the area of the magnets would be improved. In a gasket area where a mullion is present, the magnets are attracted to the mullion and urge the intervening associated flanges into sealing contact with the mullion. In a gasket area where there is no mullion present, as in the Armstrong patent, the flanges are not urged inwardly by the magnets. These flanges, when not urged inwardly by the magnets, sealably contact one another and form a sealed barrier and an insulating dead air space between the flanges and the magnets.